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England will learn from painful defeats: Eddie Jones

Posted on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 by Jody Gill

This Saturday another loss at Ireland's hands would not only present Joe Schmidt with a Grand Slam, but it would represent a third consecutive loss for Jones after his team were turned over by Scotland and France. It was a bit of a weird feeling on Saturday, watching the England game and knowing we had effectively won it, and just by people's reactions... obviously we said "well done" to each other!

The All Blacks moved to number one on November 16, 2009, taking the spot from the Springboks after South Africa beat New Zealand three straight times earlier that season.

"They're good players. Teams have ups and downs".

"We didn't have to score four tries, we had to win the Test match".

There was rarely any danger of a repeat display when, having made 10 changes, in a bid to develop squad depth ahead of next year's World Cup, Gatland saw Wales overpower Italy 38-14 in Cardiff on Sunday following back-to-back defeats by England and Ireland.

"I think I just watched it with my family at the time so it would be incredible to be part of something like that but there's no point getting too distracted".

"We've got our problems that we've got to sort out at worldwide level".

"I still think they're a really, really good side that can be very risky".

"We know what we want - we want to win this game".

"Each player will get what they need to get".

Ireland's 20-point victory over Scotland has propelled them above England and into second place in the World Rugby rankings.

"Being champions going into the last round, you've got to take confidence from that, that happened for a reason, we've worked hard for that; it'll give us confidence going into this week, but we won't get carried away with ourselves". Today we just wanted to go out there and show that we can defend how we want to. We are basically getting on with it, the players' attitude has been fantastic, they have a real desire to turn things around.

Jones, who guided England to the Grand Slam in 2016 and then was denied another one a year later when the Irish upset them in Dublin, said the principal hurdle to overcome was the dent to the players' confidence.